CWA District 2-13 Rallies for Children

Led by CWA District 2-13’s Human Rights and Women’s Committee Representative and Local 2336 President Melissa Smith-Kupihea, Locals are encouraged to participate in the “No Child Gets Left Behind” initiative. Members are being asked to donate travel luggage to shelters, foster care agencies, and transitional homes within the District so that children in need are able to move their belongings with dignity. Many children are forced to resort to black trash bags for transport.

The initiative will run through July 5, 2026.

For more information on this initiative, please email President Smith-Kupihea.

Last month, POLITICO management, after months of negotiations between our members at the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (TNG-CWA Local 32035), agreed to shut down two artificial intelligence "tools" that spread misinformation. Our members at POLITICO and E&E News announced in December of 2025 a landmark win in their arbitration case against POLITICO over the company’s unilateral introduction of artificial intelligence tools that bypassed negotiated safeguards and undermined core journalistic standards.

The company will shut down Capitol AI Report-Builder, a tool that produced branded policy reports for POLITICO Pro subscribers without any editorial review, despite generating glaring factual errors. It also will not revive the “Live Summaries” AI feature, which generated error-riddled unedited coverage of major political events, including the 2024 Democratic National Convention and Vice Presidential Debate. Both uses were found by an arbitrator in November 2025 to have violated POLITICO and E&E News members’ collective bargaining agreement.

“This is an extraordinary win not just for our members, but for everyone who believes journalism must remain in human hands,” said Ariel Wittenberg, the unit chair. “We refused to back down, and POLITICO heard us loud and clear that these tools do not belong in our newsroom.”

The arbitration case was one of the first major labor rulings in the United States to address the impact of AI on journalists’ work and sets a major precedent for the future of journalism in the age of artificial intelligence.

Click here to read more about this landmark case.

Last month, Flight Attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) won a political victory with the signing of legislation to expand paid sick leave to all Virginia workers. AFA-CWA members joined allies including the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA); the Virginia AFL-CIO; and NoVA Labor, the Northern Virginia AFL-CIO representing 72 local unions and over 56,000 workers.

The new program has a phased implementation based on employer size, ensuring that all Virginians have the basic protection of paid sick days. Members of United AFA-CWA Council 21 (AFA-CWA Local 22021) lobbied at the Virginia Capitol building, fighting airline executives’ attempts to exclude airline industry workers from the program.

“Our union has long fought to make sure Flight Attendants are included in paid and unpaid leave policies,” reads a statement from the AFA-CWA. “State by state, airlines attempt to exclude us, but we continue to fight to make sure Flight Attendants have access to the same benefits as any other workers. In Minnesota, we’ve beaten back airlines’ attempts to exclude airline workers from the state’s earned sick and safe time law, with our own Kaela Berg leading the fight in the State House.”

Congratulations to all the AFA-CWA activists who fought for, and won, paid sick leave for all Virginia workers!

After nearly three years of waiting, members of West Virginia Troopers-CWA Local 2019 finally saw justice served after their union brother, West Virginia State Trooper Cory Maynard, was killed in the line of duty. The suspect in the crime, Timothy Kennedy, fled the scene and was later captured after a six-hour manhunt.

Kennedy was charged with several felonies, including first-degree murder. After a three-week trial, on May 18, 2026, Kennedy was found guilty on all counts and the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2.

Fellow Trooper and CWA Local 2019 President, Sgt. L.A. Faircloth, wrote in a statement, “Sgt. Maynard was a dedicated member of the State Police for over 15 years, serving West Virginia communities with honor, courage, and compassion. Sgt. Maynard was also a husband, a father, and a brother in green.”

CWA members will continue to honor the memory and sacrifice of Sgt. Maynard.

AWU-CWA Local 9009 members were outside the Google I/O annual event educating workers about the Googlers for Job Security campaign and gathering new petition signatures.

Last month, Meta sent shockwaves through the tech industry, performing a round of mass layoffs that eliminated approximately 8,000 jobs. This move prompted the elected Executive Board of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA Local 9009) to release a statement calling on tech workers to get organized.

“It might feel like we are powerless in the face of these overwhelming market forces, but as the tech workers who power these companies, we are the people best positioned to do something about it,” reads the statement. “The products generating massive profits for companies like Meta and Google don’t exist without our labor. That’s why we say to Googlers and tech workers across the industry: Don’t mourn, organize!”

Meta’s mass layoffs occurred during Google I/O, a flashy annual event during which Alphabet unveils new products. At the Google I/O Demo Day for employees in Mountain View, Calif., AWU-CWA members armed with clipboards walked the lines of workers waiting to get into the event, educating coworkers about the Googlers for Job Security campaign demands and gathering new petition signatures. As AWU-CWA member Ezra Wu said, “We need security to be creative, and creativity is what powers all the cool stuff that happens at I/O.”

To stay up to date on AWU-CWA’s Googlers for Job Security campaign and future calls to action, follow them on Instagram, X, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

Last week, CWA District 1 hosted a District–wide political town hall via Zoom to educate members on some of the latest issues surrounding our elections and voting. Approximately 85 members participated. Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding our democracy, joined to discuss concerns about attacks on voting rights, the importance of election integrity in upholding our democracy, and how people can organize to fight back.

Other topics included the recent Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, election protection, and how to overcome obstacles to free and fair elections being put in place ahead of the November midterms.

Hosts encouraged members to sign up to be poll watchers and also to attend several upcoming election events CWA District 1 will have for priority candidates across the District. The District has held town hall meetings on topics of importance like fighting rising healthcare costs and fixing our broken tax system. They will continue to hold monthly meetings to discuss even more topics in the future.

Earlier this month, 2,100 information technology (IT) professionals at the University of California (UC) voted overwhelmingly to join the University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA (UPTE-CWA Local 9119). This was the largest tech industry organizing campaign in U.S. history and brings the total number of IT workers in the bargaining unit to 8,400, making it the largest tech union in the country.

IT workers cited layoff protections, wage increases, and AI governance as key issues. Worker titles include application programmers, business systems analysts, data systems analysts, database administrators, information systems analysts, and instructional designers. These workers keep California’s public university running. They build and maintain the digital infrastructure behind patient care at UC’s medical centers, power the research systems scientists across the state rely on, and design the learning tools that serve hundreds of thousands of students.

“We know when you try to make quick, dirty decisions to cut labor through AI, you're actually creating a more vulnerable system,” said UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Dan Russell. “On paper, AI can make us more 'productive' at our jobs, but the people making those recommendations to UC are management consultants who don't have the knowledge or expertise we have as workers. With the right to bargain over our working conditions, we can set the right tone not just for our workplace and tech organizations, but also for the millions of Californians who turn to UC every day for critical research, healthcare, and educational opportunities.”

The organizing campaign involved dozens of IT workers who reached out to their colleagues via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, e-mail, and social media, as well as physical outreach across departments and by knocking on doors.

Congratulations to the IT workers for organizing a highly effective campaign, engaging with one another, and winning a victory for workers across the public university system nationwide.

 
Tech workers at the University of California system have organized the largest tech union in the country. IT professionals took a moment to celebrate, along with UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Dan Russell (center in blue with hat).

Last week, AT&T workers covered by the Orange Mobility contract ratified a new agreement covering 9,000 workers in customer service, retail, technical support, and other positions across 36 states and the District of Columbia.

The four-year contract includes a top-tier benefits package and industry-leading wage increases. Other highlights include new job security provisions, call center scheduling improvements, and more.

“This is a strong contract that delivers long overdue benefits and wage increases while securing jobs for the workers who make AT&T millions,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. “This agreement serves as a reminder that strong contracts are not just won at the bargaining table, but in the streets and on the shop floor where CWA members mobilize and fight for their fellow AT&T workers and the customers they serve.”

The gains made in this new contract are a direct result of pressure on the company through member-led mobilizations. Throughout negotiations, AT&T workers across the country held the company accountable for its broken promises on a wide range of issues directly impacting workers by engaging and educating their coworkers, pamphleting AT&T-sponsored events, and participating in a strike authorization vote.

Congratulations to our AT&T Orange Mobility members on their new contract!

 
CWA Local 6360 members at Mid-Continent Public Library held “I’m Voting YES!” signs during their union election vote.

Last week, workers at Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) decisively won their union election, with over 65% of union eligible workers voting yes to joining CWA Local 6360. The new bargaining unit represents nearly 700 part-time and full-time librarians, early literacy associates, information technology staff, delivery services staff, and other workers who keep the library system running.

“From everyone that was there in the beginning four years ago to those that started supporting this week, we couldn't have done it without each and every one of us,” said MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 member and MCPL Green Hills Early Literacy Associate Kelli Mulligan Lindsey. “Together we can do anything, and together we can continue to make the library a place for everyone in our community.”

MCPL is one of the largest public library systems in the United States, covering three counties across the Kansas City metropolitan area and serving over 880,000 residents.

In March, workers gathered at the North Independence Branch to announce that more than 60% of union-eligible employees had signed a public declaration in support of forming a union. Library workers say the union will give them a stronger voice in decisions that shape services, staffing, safety, and access across the system.

For additional union updates, follow MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 on Instagram and Facebook.

Last week, CWA District 3 Organizing Coordinator Akeyia Johnson went public with news that workers at Novel Booksellers in Memphis, Tenn., had organized to form the Novel Booksellers Union (NBU-CWA). At the press conference, guests included Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson (D-09) and CWA Assistant Organizing Director Gail Tyree. The booksellers won their union election with a clear supermajority in favor.

Novel Booksellers has served as a hub for literature, learning, and community connection for more than four decades. From hosting author events and book clubs to partnering with local schools, writers, and organizations, the bookstore has played a vital role in the cultural life of Memphis. The booksellers who power this work say their decision to organize came from a deep love for the store and the community.

“We show up every day for our customers and each other,” said Gordon Pera, a Novel Booksellers worker. “We are proud of the welcoming and inclusive space we create. Unionizing is about ensuring that the people who sustain this institution are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.”

Workers organized to secure fair compensation, a voice in decisions that affect their work and livelihoods, and clear workplace protections. Booksellers say these steps are essential not only for their own stability but also for the long-term health of Novel as a community institution. They emphasized that their organizing efforts align with Novel’s longstanding mission of community investment and engagement and expressed hope that investors and leadership will recognize their union and bargain toward a fair contract.

Click here to watch a video of the press conference on Instagram.